trench whistle Posted 20 May , 2016 Share Posted 20 May , 2016 Hello everyone, this is my first post so please be gentle! I have as the title suggests a BWM to a Belgian Agent. I have obtained a copy of the MIC which just states Belgian Agent and entitlement to BWM only. The mic gave the appropriate medal roll to consult and this gives his address presumably at time of issue of the medal. Is it possible to go any further with the research agent medals? I would love to know what he was involved with and if he is entitled to any Belgian awards, I am assuming Belgian Victory medal at the very least? Anybody had any luck researching agents medals and can give me pointers on what to do? The gentleman concerned was Michel Boone and his address 41 Rue des Foulon, Beirvelde Any help offered greatly appreciated. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBrook Posted 20 May , 2016 Share Posted 20 May , 2016 He was a volunteer attached to the British Army and mentioned in despatches by Sir D. Haig https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31526/supplement/10858 scroll back to page 10857 for the heading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 20 May , 2016 Share Posted 20 May , 2016 Hi Jim If you enter Belgian Agent.in the search field (top right) you will find a number of threads on the subject on this forum Regards Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench whistle Posted 20 May , 2016 Author Share Posted 20 May , 2016 Thank you for the replies so far. Ray thank you for the suggestion, a new forum takes a bit of getting used to as to where to locate things. I have had a quick search for Belgian Agents and as you say I have found a few threads with a possible points of contact. However they all seem to be several years old so I do not want to contact anybody on spec in case information like email addresses are out of date. Harry thank you for the link to the London Gazette, I had tried looking my man up on the gazette site when I got the medal, but I find it to be almost impenetrable to a novice researcher. Knowing that Boone was mentioned in dispatches now leads to more questions, would a Belgian citizen have been issued with the oak leaf to denote his MID? If so where would it have been worn? As we know it should be on the ribbon of the Victory medal but Belgians did not qualify for the British Victory medal. Questions questions! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBrook Posted 20 May , 2016 Share Posted 20 May , 2016 Jim, All I can say is that there is no mention on his medal index card that the M.I.D. emblem was issued to him, so assume it was not issued to him. It might be worth looking at the medal index cards of a sample of those mentioned in the same Gazette just to check if any emblems were issued in similar cases. Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 5 June , 2016 Share Posted 5 June , 2016 Harry, The Belgium military archives will have details of him, but more likely the local history library, they are very much heroes then and now. Jim, yes the MID was worn but the victory was not awarded, all French and Belgium agents were inducted into the British army, the medal was very much thought of as an "Award" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 5 June , 2016 Share Posted 5 June , 2016 This is part of a group I have you can see the MID being worn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench whistle Posted 6 June , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 June , 2016 Thank you leibregiment, good to know about the MID. What a fantastic article to your man you have found! Interesting that in the photo he only seems to be wearing his British and French awards, does the group you have contain his full entitlement? I shall now try to find out if Beirvelde has a local history museum to contact. As for Belgian military archives, would you have a contact address? Looking back through old threads the last time Belgian agents came up is several years ago. Having worked in museums I know that inderviduals do not stay in post forever so email addresses can become out of date. All the best, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 6 June , 2016 Share Posted 6 June , 2016 Here is some more..the book is worth getting as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 6 June , 2016 Share Posted 6 June , 2016 (edited) Here is another one of my groups, I have the 1918 British Empire medal, he was shot at dawn in 1916 Edited 6 June , 2016 by leibregiment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench whistle Posted 6 June , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 June , 2016 Excellent stuff! Thank you for sharing your agent groups. If I can find just a fraction of that information to my man I shall be happy. I will try to get a copy of the book, I know very little about Belgian civilian participation in the Great War, though having found this medal in a flea market has piqued my interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullerTurner Posted 15 July , 2016 Share Posted 15 July , 2016 Leibregiment, the citation for Fr Desonay's CdG states with a silver star but the medal there has a "palme" device. Is there a cunning reason for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 25 July , 2016 Share Posted 25 July , 2016 Yes just a spare CdG to cover the document Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 10 March , 2019 Admin Share Posted 10 March , 2019 Just came across another MIC to a Belgian Agent (another Pere / Father) Image courtesy of Ancestry free access Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
familyhistoryman Posted 11 March , 2019 Share Posted 11 March , 2019 Hi If you search the MIC cards on Ancestry you will find there are over 2,000 records for Belgian Agents Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 11 March , 2019 Share Posted 11 March , 2019 It should be mentioned that there were two sorts of Belgian Agent. One was assisting the allies in any way that they could against the enemy in a subterfuge way. The other was assisting the allies to obtain locally sourced goods such as food, fodder and anything else that could be obtained. It was easier to use a Belgian who was multilingual and could be trusted by the natives. Both were deserving of medals as both were in danger if the enemy captured them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench whistle Posted 11 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 11 March , 2019 8 hours ago, Jim Strawbridge said: It should be mentioned that there were two sorts of Belgian Agent. One was assisting the allies in any way that they could against the enemy in a subterfuge way. The other was assisting the allies to obtain locally sourced goods such as food, fodder and anything else that could be obtained. It was easier to use a Belgian who was multilingual and could be trusted by the natives. Both were deserving of medals as both were in danger if the enemy captured them. Is there anyway of finding out which sort an individual was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 12 March , 2019 Share Posted 12 March , 2019 17 hours ago, trench whistle said: Is there anyway of finding out which sort an individual was? Not that I am aware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Smallhausen Posted 12 March , 2019 Share Posted 12 March , 2019 David, His name is on the supplement London Gazette 29 august 1919 page 10864. It was a reverend from Ghent , Flanders.. jef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 12 March , 2019 Admin Share Posted 12 March , 2019 24 minutes ago, von Smallhausen said: David, His name is on the supplement London Gazette 29 august 1919 page 10864. It was a reverend from Ghent , Flanders.. jef Thanks Jef. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rflory Posted 12 March , 2019 Share Posted 12 March , 2019 Some of you may be interested in the feature article in the March-April 2019 issue of JOMSA: The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America by Peter Verstraeten titled "The Secrecy of Awards to Belgian Secret Service Agents." The issue is slated to be mailed to members within the next two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leibregiment Posted 12 March , 2019 Share Posted 12 March , 2019 His address was 28 rue des Soeurs Noires, Ghent, he was also known as : Frère Dionisius (Denis) van Jézus (Alphonse-François de Schepper), born 1882 died 1971, from 1952-1956 he worked in Vietnam at the Collège d'Adran Dalat , he was originally from the Netherlands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomasvh Posted 15 January Share Posted 15 January Hi @trench whistle This is my first post so I can't message you directly. I see you are still active on this forum so I'm replying to your post from a couple of years ago. I recently found out my great grandfather was a Belgian agent after finding his BMW, so just like you I'm trying to find more information about this topic. The posts on this forum has helped me in my search. I hope you have found some more information about your Belgian Agent Michel Boone, but if you haven't - I looked up his name in the Belgian Rijksarchief, service patriotique, and found the following information: Rue des Foulons 41, Beirvelde (this confirms the adress you already knew) Lokeren 18-11-1896 (presumably his date and place of birth) G.Q.G.d.IO. Service Hadrian Kind regards, Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin kenf48 Posted 15 January Admin Share Posted 15 January @Thomasvh Welcome to GWF I've tagged @trench whistle on your post which has been approved and you may now use the PM facility on GWF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench whistle Posted 15 January Author Share Posted 15 January 4 hours ago, Thomasvh said: Hi @trench whistle This is my first post so I can't message you directly. I see you are still active on this forum so I'm replying to your post from a couple of years ago. I recently found out my great grandfather was a Belgian agent after finding his BMW, so just like you I'm trying to find more information about this topic. The posts on this forum has helped me in my search. I hope you have found some more information about your Belgian Agent Michel Boone, but if you haven't - I looked up his name in the Belgian Rijksarchief, service patriotique, and found the following information: Rue des Foulons 41, Beirvelde (this confirms the adress you already knew) Lokeren 18-11-1896 (presumably his date and place of birth) G.Q.G.d.IO. Service Hadrian Kind regards, Thomas Thank you Thomas and welcome to the forum. I still have the medal but have been unable to add much information yet so this is most appreciated. Do you know what G.Q.G.d.IO stands for? All the best James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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